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Sister Ann Rena Shinkey, OP 1933-2021

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Sister Ann Rena Shinkey, OP 1933-2021 Sister Ann Rena Shinkey, OP 1933-2021 I lay claim to being pure “Dominican” from birth. Marilyn Rita Shinkey, the future Sister Ann Rena, was not only the daughter of a mother born to Italian-immigrant parents, but her mother’s name – Rena Dominic – even fit the bill. Born in Streator, Illinois, on August 31, 1933, Marilyn was the only child of Rena and Frederick Shinkey. Frederick was born in Paxton, Illinois, and had farmed and ranched out West before returning to his home state and settling in Streator, where he worked as a plant foreman. Marilyn’s childhood was a happy, active one. She loved sports and anything to do with the outdoors. From the age of ten she knew she wanted to be a teacher, and because of her athletic as well as academic abilities, she earned scholarships in both areas to Illinois State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education, majoring in physical education, in 1955. “Only the hand of God could account for my next move,” she wrote in her autobiography. After graduating from college, she was hired to teach physical education and social studies at Mount St. Mary Academy. It was her introduction to the Adrian Dominican Sisters, as well as something of a re- introduction to Catholicism in general; her parents were both lapsed Catholics, and although she had been baptized and made her first Communion she had not been confirmed. “Needless to say, that was completed in my three years at the Mount,” she wrote. In the persons of Sister Rita Marie Callaghan and the other Adrian Dominicans at the Mount, Marilyn soon came to see that being a teacher alone did not provide the complete life she saw in the Sisters. Trying to “escape these ‘new yearnings,’” she left the Academy for a teaching assistantship at the University of Florida and received her master’s in health, physical education, recreation and dance there. But then, in 1960, she could not put aside her call to religious life any more, and entered the Congregation at the age of twenty-seven. “Sister Rita Marie literally put the habit on my back, chiding me about trying to run away and how, even though my contracted salary at the Mount wasn’t much … now the Adrians were going to pay me even less – except for the ‘heavenly’ retirement program!” she wrote. She admitted later in her autobiography that being a twenty-seven-year-old postulant, surrounded by women a decade or even more younger than she was, was not always an enjoyable experience, although she learned to participate and grow from it. But she was not to be in Adrian for long, either. Just two months into her postulancy, in August 1960, she was sent to teach at Visitation School in Detroit, and was there until that December when she returned to Adrian for her canonical novitiate year. Now Sister Ann Rena, she taught a graduate-level history course at Siena Heights College (University) for novices from Barry College (University) for a semester during her novitiate, but besides that “I did all those other things that made up novitiate life,” she wrote. Being considerably older than the other novices, she was always conscious of setting a good example for them. But she knew how to have fun as well, drawing daily cartoons about the exploits of a fictitious Adrian Dominican, Sister Guala, that “helped us all laugh at some of the really dumb things we were capable of doing. Even Sister Patrick Jerome [Mullins, the novice mistress] made regular trips to check on Sister Guala’s capers.” Sister Ann Rena’s teaching ministry as an Adrian Dominican Sister began with a few months (January to June 1962) at St. Edmund School in Oak Park, Illinois. All of her years in active ministry, in fact, were spent in Illinois, and after her experience at St. Edmund she taught and/or was an administrator solely on the high school level. Next came two years (1962-1964) at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, where she chaired the Business Education Department; three years (1964-1967) teaching business education at Aquinas Dominican High School in Chicago; nine years (1967-1976) at St. Edward High School in Elgin, the first four as a business education teacher and the final five as both a teacher and as assistant principal. She earned a second master’s degree, this one in business education, during her time at St. Edward. She then spent five years (1976-1981) as Director of Curriculum and Records at Boylan Central Catholic High School in Rockford; two years (1981-1983) as principal at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock as well as McHenry County Superintendent of Catholic Education; almost a year (August 1983-April 1984) as assistant principal of Alleman High School in Rock Island; and, finally, eight years (1984-1992) as a teacher at Mother McAuley High School in Chicago. At that point, she retired from teaching and returned to Streator to look after her mother, who had suffered a stroke in 1986. Her father had died in 1965, and while Sister Ann Rena had spent her weekends since her mother’s stroke tending to her needs, it had become clear that her mother needed full-time care. During this time, she became a minister not only to her mother but to the neighborhood around her as well. Said Sister Rosemary Asaro, Holy Rosary Chapter Assistant, in her eulogy for Sister Ann Rena: Ann Rena’s annals were written after she had retired. They read like a documentary and to me reveal her strength as a person, her compassion, generosity and independence. She shared how, after her mother’s death, and even before, she developed a life-giving ministry, even becoming a neighborhood watch member. Streator being a small town, she knew many of the people. Some of her school classmates were still living there. She visited the homebound and hospitalized, provided transportation to doctor appointments, attended wakes and funerals, shared produce from her garden. One of her neighbors during this time, Ron Westerhold, sent in his memories of her after her passing: She was more than just a neighbor to us, a good friend, more of an adopted family. When my brother Donnie and his late wife Leslie had their kids born Marilyn had a new title; she became Grandma Nun. She was proud of her new title. She was at our house when they brought each one of their kids home from the hospital and got to hold each one in her arms and, like any good grandma, spoil them. … We and the other neighbors were also just remembering how she would climb up her old TV tower to clean the attic windows on the back of her house. … She was one of a kind and will be missed by many of us. Sister Ann Rena also made several trips with a friend to Kentucky over these years, delivering clothing and household items to Sister Mary Kay Drouin’s ministry there. After her mother’s death in 1998, she continued to live at the family home until returning to Adrian in 2011 to reside at the Dominican life Center. She died there on January 22, 2021, at the age of eighty-seven and in her sixtieth year of religious profession. Her longtime friend Sister Grace Henneberry provided this remembrance: Sister Ann Rena, an educator to the very core of her being, was an astute woman [who] possessed a strong work ethic and an engaging personality. … When she was principal in Woodstock, IL, and I was principal in Mundelein, IL, we would periodically meet to share experiences. Sister enjoyed a good relationship with her students; some friendships continued for decades.… Oh, the countless lives Sister Ann Rena touched by her warm smile, affirmation, endless kindnesses and prayerful support! Sister Joella Miller’s funeral homily for Sister Ann Rena reflected upon the Gospel reading used, luke 15:1-7: As we read God’s words here we can learn something for ourselves. For we are all shepherds of God’s people in one way or another. We are called to care for his people by following Jesus’ footsteps. Our “flock” may include our neighbors, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our coworkers or someone we find in need. Sister Ann Rena was a wonderful educator and a great teacher. Her students loved her and were inspired by her. These beautiful young people were the beginning of her flock. After she retired to Streator one member of her flock was her mother who she lovingly cared for. Other members of her flock in Streator were the homebound and hospitalized that she visited often and those she provided transportation to take them to doctor’s appointments. She also had as a part of her flock those she shared produce with from her garden. She even went outside Streator to include in her flock the people in the town of Beattyville, Kentucky – Sister Mary Kay Drouin and those she ministered to – providing clothing and household items. Ann Rena also included her Mission Group, the Janerose group, in her flock and served them well as their delegate. Sister Ann Rena remembered that all these sheep belonged to Jesus and not to her. She treasured each one of them and prayed for them daily. Left: Marilyn at age 3. Center: 1951 graduation photo from Streator Township High School, Illinois. Right: Marilyn Shinkey, physical education teacher at Mt. St. Mary Academy, St. Charles, Illinois from 1955 to 1958, in school photo.
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